To learn the basics of Python we used the book Introduction to Computing and Programming in Python, A Multimedia Approach. The first two chapters were very basic. Although they presented an introduction to basic Python syntax for us, these chapters are meant for someone with little or no previous programming experience. For non-Computer Science majors, these first chapters are a good explanation of universal programming basics, such as how variables work, what an algorithm is, method parameters, etc, without getting too in depth into a topic they might not be that interested in.
As for the next couple chapters (particularly 3-5, we did not explore beyond chapter 5, as it didn’t pertain to the image manipulation we were interested in), they presented a good background into image manipulation. While becoming familiar with Python, we were also able to learn, understand, and develop image manipulation algorithms.
The technique for learning to program employed in this book is good for those students who aren’t interested in becoming expert programmers or who don’t want to take the time to delve into the depths of programming (at least not yet). Instead of writing tedious, uninteresting programs that output strings or numbers, this book allows beginner programmers to write simple methods that can produce (hopefully) visually appeasing output and keep them interested in the subject.